And now back to our regular scheduled program ... almost

LOTS OF BRAIN STUFF: GENERAL & MINE

I've been focusing on my mental issues and reposting some of my earlier blogs. Today, I'm going to do spend some time on brains, hence the book cover above, brains in general, and how my brain has reacted to my treatments.

If you were a student of mine before 1983, my teaching on the topic of the human brain was limited to areas and functions of those areas. 

Then I read this book. It was my introduction to learning styles. 

Book: Title  Human Brain Learning 
ISBN:  9780582283794  Publication Year 1983
Type: Textbook
Subject Area:  Education, Medical
Author: Leslie A. Hart
Subject: Neuroscience, Learning Styles

For a very good introduction on how you learn, I recommend being in my classes after 1983. However, since time travel is still science fictions try: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWomJWfNWPM  

I love teaching, and I was disappointed when good students did not to well on certain types of assignments. One day at Monte Vista, one of the doctors that worked with the school's special needs students offered an short after-school introduction to learning styles. At that time there were three:

Visual: Learns through sight.
Auditory: Learns through hearing.
Kinesthetic: Learns through physical experience.
Soon added was
Reading/Writing: Learns through text.

She emphasized that all people learn many ways, but most have one (or two) which is best for them.

I walked away from that meeting dealing with how many of my presentations and assignments were NOT KINESTHETIC.

I worked with Owen Miller at the time, and we decided we needed to get kids moving.

We invented: CRANIAL CREATIONS. 

 

Original cover and resigned cover to match the 2nd book they published.

It's a collection of 45 exercises. Types include: Analysis, The Art Corner, Other Cooperative Learning Exercises, Writing Assignments, and Laboratory Skills. The majority exercises required working in groups, where each student had an assigned task.

That book was the number one seller in the science section of the companies listings for nine years in a row. 

Kids did better, and some "last kid chosen for groups" became first choice for activities where art skills and cooperative learning were emphasized 

A second Cranial Creation followed. My co-author was Candace J. Aguire, a woman I known since Junior high.

The National Science Teacher's Association invited me to sign these books at one of their conventions. 

Owen and I also designed an activity we titled "Walk Around" that was a hit every time I gave a presentation at science teacher conferences.

More on "Walk Around" next time.

BRAIN STUFF

The treatment plan booklet provided by Lilly gave me a place to write thoughts, etc after each infusion. What follows is what I wrote.

June 10: I think I feel better today than I have in a long time.

July 7: When I got home after this infusion, Leanne asked me to sign our names on a birthday card. I reminded her that my writing now looked more like a two-year old with crayons, but I signed the card and the signature was the BEST in at least a year.

July 9: I was dizzy for about four hours. I used a technique I used before. The dizziness ended, but took me five times as long to erase the dizziness than the previous time.

August 4: Monday was fine. On Tuesday I drove to Temecula and spent four hours working with Jen (a teacher I worked with at Great Oak) and helped her "heal" the scrap-book she made for my retirement. It was a great time.

August 7: I was tired, but there were no other issues, BUT, I wish I could more of my memory for words back. 

August 22: Today I can type better (fewer errors) than I have in a least a year!

Thanks for reading to the end.

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